But autos provide perhaps one of the best examples of what foreigners have been up against for years in efforts to do business in Korea, analysts say. That's because Korea has been so thoroughly effective in keeping foreign autos out.

In a nation that bought more than 1.5 million cars in 1997, only 8,135 of them were foreign a fact American and European car makers attribute mostly to unfair and restrictive trade practices.

Foreign car dealers say their already small market is on the verge of being completely wiped out by Korea's latest anti-import campaign, coming on top of government barriers and a slump in sales of all consumer goods in Korea.

Government officials deny foreign car makers are treated unfairly and counter that foreigners are trying to sell car sizes and types unpopular in Korea.

International trade protests have been issued and negotiations are pending.

Still, officials and economists have asked civic groups to put a lid on talk against imports, warning it will antagonize trading partners and frighten potential investors.

''It is true that we need to reduce imports of certain consumer goods,'' said Chun Joo-sung, an economics professor at Ewha Women's University. ''But what is much more important now is to create a favorable business environment for foreign investors.''

HEAD:Crisis sparks anti-import sentiment

SEOUL, South Korea -- (AP) Angling for foreign investment with new bait on its line, South Korea is starting to get some nibbles.

The nation that for decades has been one of the world's most frustrating and hostile markets is in the middle of a frenzied campaign to get the foreign capital it needs to revive and restructure its economy.

In recent weeks, Koreans have announced some successes with big international names. They include agreements on purchases or expanded joint ventures by America's Hewlett Packard Co., Germany's BASF, Canada's Seagram Co. and Australia's News Corp.

''As far as we're concerned, what we are seeing is a pretty noticeable reaction by multinational corporations,'' said Christoforo Rocco, an analyst with J. Henry Schroder & Co. Ltd.

''It's very clear that they are starting to move.''

But as Korea cranks up efforts to attract capital, most potential investors are still just circling the pond. And at least one big one has decided there still isn't enough bait on the hook.

After two years of trying to develop a silicon complex in South Korea, Dow Corning Corp. of the United States decided in February to take $2.8 billion to Malaysia instead.

It would have been the largest foreign project in Korea, and its loss illustrates a large Korean problem. Investors have long been alienated by the country's uninviting attitude toward foreigners, heaps of tangled bureaucratic red tape and what they say are unfair and ever-changing policies.

In a government survey last month, businessmen listed scores of familiar complaints with the Korean system. They included restrictive government standards, licensing, customs clearance, tariffs, censorship, product labeling and product testing.

And it's not just the government that throws up barriers. So does the population as a whole.

A campaign started last year in response to Korea's trade deficit broadened and turned more nasty during the fall currency crisis as civic groups urged consumers to shun foreign products.

''Potential foreign investors will not find such sentiment attractive,'' said Chun Joo-sung, an economics professor at Ewha Women's University.

President Kim Dae-jung and his new administration are struggling to change all that.

''Foreign investors should be looked upon as friends,'' he urged recently. ''We should turn Korea into a country with some of the most attractive investment conditions in the world.''

Reforms have accelerated over the past year in particular the past few months since a near economic collapse sent the country to the International Monetary Fund for a bailout in December.

In a dizzying effort to get things moving in recent weeks, government officials and business executives have been meeting, negotiating and holding seminars among themselves and with foreigners.

They've taken surveys, commissioned studies, cranked out reform proposals and debated and talked up the effort in dozens of settings at home and abroad.

There have been changes or proposed changes in laws on foreign ownership of land, mergers and acquisitions, labor, stock ownership and on other key issues. Officials are also promising a ''one-stop service'' for potential investors, a reform that has been stalled by infighting among three government agencies over who should run the service.

But perhaps most importantly, the fast and free relationship between business and banking sectors is changing.

As the nation's financial sector is reformed, the country's over-diversified, debt-powered conglomerates will be forced for the first time to focus on what they're going to keep and what they're going to give up in order to restructure, in order to survive.

In other words, there will be more cash-strapped companies putting assets on the market -- assets they once might have propped up with still more bank loans.

Businessmen acknowledge the dramatic changes so far but say more are needed and needed faster.

But analysts say they're uncertain how fast and how far the Kim administration can turn around the entrenched bureaucracy and old ways of thinking and of doing business.